"The shock of my life"

Garage empty! Who stole Hermine’s (85) car?

When Hermine K. (85) opened her garage on Khevenhüllerstraße in Linz, her beloved car was gone.(Bild: Kerschbaummayr Werner)

An 85-year-old woman with limited mobility from Linz was shocked when she tried to get into her car a few days ago: her car was gone—apparently stolen from the locked garage. "I stood in front of my empty garage," she said, visibly shaken, in an interview with the "Krone" newspaper.

"I had the shock of my life. The garage was empty" – 85-year-old Hermine K. from Linz is still struggling to find the words in her interview with the "Krone." The car that is so important to her because of her mobility impairment is gone. It was apparently stolen unnoticed from the locked garage on Khevenhüllerstraße in Linz.

"I first called my daughter and those acquaintances who know the code to the garage. It could have been that someone had borrowed the car, although no one has ever done that before," says the pensioner. Only when she was sure that no one had the car did she call the police.

Doesn't feel taken seriously
"They took down all the details, but I don't think the police officer took me seriously. He asked if I had forgotten where I had parked it." But the Linz resident knows for sure that she last used the car on Thursday a week ago and needed it again after eight days – but by then it was already gone.

The police officer asked if I had forgotten where I had parked it.

Hermine (85) über ihr Gespräch mit der Polizei

Concern that thieves have house keys
"I have a lock that is secured with numbers. My grandson has already told me that the numbers I always have to press are worn out," says the Linz resident. She is now also considering changing the lock on her apartment – because the car key and other keys were on the passenger seat of her black Opel Mokka, which is ten years old and has barely 40,000 kilometers on the odometer.

"I just had it serviced and new windshield wipers installed," says Hermine K., who is certain that the car is already abroad: "They also took the spare key from a box."

Cooler bag also gone
Looking back, the Linz resident also finds other incidents suspicious: about three months ago, an expensive cooler bag disappeared from the garage, and once the curtains had been moved. And Hermine K. has another worry: "I'm afraid I'll be left with the damage." When she called her insurance company, they told her that she was not covered.